## British Cave Rescue Council Charity registration number : 1137252 ## Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023 ## **Objectives and Activities** The objectives of the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) are to relieve suffering and distress amongst persons and animals endangered by accidents or natural hazards by co-ordinating and providing support for member underground search and rescue organisations and individuals representing the Council in the British Isles and abroad. The BCRC acts as the co-ordinating and representative body for its fifteen volunteer member teams who provide underground search and rescue services throughout the UK and Ireland. Its officers represent the interests of its member teams and their services with numerous relevant national and international organisations. BCRC is a member of United Kingdom Search and Rescue (UKSAR) – the Government sponsored forum for all bona fide national bodies, statutory or voluntary, that are involved in search and rescue. BCRC brings together its member teams to share ideas, training and best practice. It also administers a national “peer review” scheme through which teams help each other to assess and improve their capabilities and ability to meet operational needs. The Council also assists teams by advising on and co-ordinating grant applications and occasionally it organises and funds or part funds national equipment design projects and purchases. The BCRC trustees continue to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on “Public Benefit” in everything it does. ## **Policy on Grant Making** The BCRC does not usually make grants to individual member teams. It does however occasionally grant aid equipment development and help to finance acquisition of equipment or resources of benefit to all teams. ## **Volunteers** Everybody involved with BCRC from national trustees and officers to the nine hundred or so members of its sixteen member teams is an unpaid volunteer. All current BCRC trustees and officers also serve as active volunteers on a member team. ## **Achievements and Performance** During the year 2022/23 the Council’s officers have continued to successfully maintain relations with, make representations to and work with a wide variety of organisations in the interests of the underground search and rescue teams and their service as a whole. These include United Kingdom Search and Rescue, National Police Chiefs Council, Mountain Rescue England and Wales, Association of Lowland Search and Rescue, British Caving Association and the European Cave Rescue Association. In the calendar year 2023 BCRC member teams were mobilised 41 times for underground searches and rescues. These involved nearly 2200 individual operational hours by team members although many more hours were expended on subsequent equipment maintenance and preparation. Some teams were also involved in surface search and rescue operations where their specialist skills were required. ## **Fundraising Performance** BCRC’s only guaranteed income is the annual levy on member teams which is intended to cover basic administrative costs. This levy is currently £100 per team per annum. Most of the expense of providing underground search and rescue services is incurred by BCRC member teams in and around their primary operational areas. All teams are charities and raise money locally to cover their costs. BCRC do not wish to adversely affect these efforts and so direct BCRC fund raising is only actively pursued on rare opportunities that would not prejudice team fund raising efforts. ## **Financial Review** For many years BCRC’s income was dependent on the annual levy on member teams and on occasional donations from caving organisations and members of the public. Income rarely exceeded the low thousands. Then, in 2018, BCRC sent a team of specialist cave divers to participate in the search and rescue effort of thirteen boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand (Tham Luang). Their success in finding and rescuing the boys as part of a large and protracted international operation led to a huge influx of donations to BCRC from all over the world. These had tailed off by the year 2020/21 but increased once again in 2021/22 as the result of a number of books and films being released about the rescue. In 2022/23 a further £10,073 was received in donations from film companies following the release of further films about the rescue. It is unlikely that this rescue will lead to any further significant donations. The increased income due to the Thailand rescue has already enabled the Council to do more for its members and will enable it to continue to do so in years to come. However, the Council has to be prudent and make its windfall last for many years. The likelihood of another windfall is vanishingly small and cannot be relied on in planning for the future. At the end of January 2023 BCRC’s cash assets had risen to a total of £87,755. Hopefully income during 2023/24 will be sufficient to maintain cash assets at a similarly healthy level but, realistically, there is no certainty in this. ## **Reserves** In addition to providing for a higher level of support for teams for as long as possible after the Tham Luang windfall BCRC reserves have to cover a number of areas. Total expenditure in 2022/23 was £25,142. Currently £10,000 is earmarked as a reserve to cover normal annual outgoings and another £10,000 is set aside to cover current ongoing plans for a couple of equipment design and supply projects. The remaining £67,755 is earmarked as a general reserve to keep current levels of support going for as long as possible, to provide emergency funding for future major rescue efforts and to help teams in immediate financial trouble following possible uninsured operational equipment and other losses. ## **Risks and Uncertainties** As already mentioned, BCRC faces long term funding problems. The windfall income following the Tham Luang rescue will hopefully put off financial problems for some years but nonetheless fundraising is a problem that looms on the horizon. BCRC and its member teams benefit from full or associate membership of Mountain Rescue England & Wales – our larger sister charity supporting mountain rescue. The main current financial benefit is that MREW pays for much of BCRC’s insurance. However, as insurance costs increase there is a risk that in the future, a greater proportion of costs of insurance cover may fall upon Mountain Rescue member teams. **Structure, Governance and Management** The BCRC is an unincorporated charity, governed by its constitution and charity law. It was originally formed as the Cave Rescue Council in 1967 and was reconstituted as the British Cave Rescue Council in 1981. It became a registered charity in April 2003 and its constitution was last amended in 2020. ## **Trustee selection** The Council’s member teams elect the BCRC national officers at its annual general meeting in April each year. The membership must elect a chairman, secretary and treasurer and they may also elect a president, vice chairman, assistant chairman, training officer, equipment officer, conference secretary, communications officer, medical officer, diving officer, information officer and legal advisor. Collectively these officers compose the executive committee. If officer positions remain vacant at the end of an AGM, the executive committee may co-opt officers to fill those positions. ## **Reference and Administrative details** Charity name : British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) Registered charity number : 1137252 Correspondence address : Old Forge House, Hampton Loade, Bridgnorth WV15 6HD E-mail address : secretary@caverescue.org.uk Website : www.caverescue.org.uk The charity trustees managing the charity 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023 are as follows: |Dr Peter Dennis|Chairman|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |---|---|---| |Richard Whitehouse MBE|Vice chairman|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Gary Mitchell|Assistant chairman|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Emma Porter|Secretary|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Roger King
|Treasurer
|elected at AGM in April 2022| |James Davis|Training Officer|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Michael Clayton|Equipment Officer|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Toby Hamnett|Legal Advisor|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Dr Brendan Sloan|Medical Officer|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Christopher Jewell QGM|Diving Officer|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Anthony Haigh|Communications Officer|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| |Roger King|Information Officer|elected at AGMs in April 2021 and 2022| _The Charity Commission require trustees to have recorded the names of any other charities that they are trustees of. Richard Whitehouse is also a trustee of :_ _Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation (1017362) Mountain and Cave Rescue Benevolent Fund (1137252) Tideswell and District Community Association (1015467)_ _Gary Mitchell is also a trustee of Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (1069557)_ _Roger King is also a trustee of Peninsula Mountain and Cave Rescue Association (119721)_ _Dr Brendan Sloane is also a trustee of Rescue Benevolent Fund (1152798) British Burn Association (1187794)_ CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES BRIIISH CAVE RESCUE COLINCIL 113T252 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period To 0110212022 3110112023 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted fund5 Restricted funds EndO￿Tr￿nt nds Totsl funds Last year k>the neare8t£ tothe ￿arest£ tolhe neare8t£ tothe neare8t£ A1 Receipts 1.800 2888 1.7LKI 4.42B 403 220 2,708 VAT reclaThed 623 7.125 7,125 11,303 10.073 67 665 2.7(K> Rechatged ewvnent dun31￿5 etG 11?03 lo￿73 67 665 15,406 knteres¢ receATd Badge & st*kersales Sub to1￿{Gn)sS income forAR) 310 26,196 7,345 33,541 25,576 A2 Asset and investn*nt sales 26,196 7,345 33,541 25,576 A3 Payrnnts Ttavel 2A80 2280 1,035 747 Bad￿8 & stick•r• lor ro￿1 239 IIE5CON22 4625 5.625 185 ITCOB 185 431 E4uwentfor teams Equyhentde¥ehJwnent FWHI￿15vvcOst$ Postage. statThery& lèkF*K Paypal 11*8 434 12,433 3,808 2,467 4?11 45 4808 273 273 43 495 27S 220 505 Sub total Is,oss 10.0È7 2S,142 9,893 M Psset and investrnnt PU￿hase￿ Sub tolal 15,055 10,087.5 25,142 9.893 Netofrncei*/(payments) AS Transfers bet*Een funds PS Cash funds last ￿ar end Cash funds this yearend 11,142 1,B21 54,792 67,755 2,742 1,821 24563 20,000 8,399 15.683 79.3S8 87.755 79,355 ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**|**Details**|**Details**|**Details**||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**| |**B1 Cash funds**|**Lloyds current account**||||**13,246**||**-**||**-**| ||**NatWest current account**||||**1,828**||**-**||**-**| ||**Lloyds savings account**||||**52,445**||**20,000**||**-**| ||**Paypal account**||||**236**||**-**||**-**| ||**_Total cash funds_**||||**67,755**||**20,000**
OK||**-**| ||**(agree balances with receipts and**
**payments account(s))**||||**OK**||||OK| ||||||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted**||**Endowment**| |**B2 Other monetary assets**|**Details**||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**| ||**None**||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| |**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**|**Details**||||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||**None**||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| ||**Details**||||**Fund to which**
**liability relates**||**Amount due**
**(optional)**||**When due**
**(optional)**| |**B5 Liabilities**|**None**||||||**-**||| ||||||||||| |Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|Signature||||Print Name||||Date of
approval| ||||||Emma Porter||||31-Jul-24| ||||||||||| ||||||||||| ||Checked byES MaiseyFMAAT(GCRG)02/07/2024||||||||| (HARITY COMMISSION ! FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report R•port to th• tru•1• 8rrtish Cave Res￿8 Cwncil On •¢¢ounts for th• y•ar •ndod 31 January 2023 Charlty no (If any) 1137252 Sot out on pa9•• 1-2ofCC16a I repxxl to Irusteej on my exarnin8ts.on of the account¥ of the obove 1*onty (Ihe Tfu8t? for tho year ernled 311t January 2023. RMpon•lbllltlM and ba•1• of r•port AB th? charity'8 trustee8, you are ￿POnSible for the preparation of tho accounts in aecordancé with th& roquiroments of the Charities Ad 2011 (Ihe Ad"). l ￿pOrt in re8￿ct of my examin81ion ol the Trusl's accounts carried out urKler 8e¢ti¢y1 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying oul my examination, I have followed all the 8Oic8bb Direclions gwen by the Chority Commission urKler 145(SXb) of tho Act. Ind•pend•nt I havo comp￿1￿•1 my examination. I confim that material matters have •xamln•rf• •tatomont come to my attention in o)nnection with examin8tw *thich gNe8 me use to believè thal in, any material re$pe¢t'. the accounting fecords were not kept in 8¢xordance wilh section 130 of the Charities A¢A: or the accounts di¢J not ac(y)rd with t￿ a￿oUntIng records,. or the account8 did not comply wrth applicable requirements con¢eming the fonn A￿1 conlenl of accounts sel fArt in the ChaTibes {Accounts and Report81 Regulation8 2QKJ8 other than 8ny requirement that the a¢¢ount$ give a Irue and fairf view which rJ not a matter Con￿dered a$ part of an indop8nd&nt examinati￿. I have no concems have c(xne auos8 no other matters in ¢onn8dion wrth the examination to which attent￿n should be dr￿1 In this report in order to enable a FKOPW under8tandiry ol the accounts lo be reach80. Slgn•d: D•ts: 2- July 2024 Nam•: Mr8 Elizabeth Maisey R•l•vant prof•$$lon•l qu•llfl¢atlonlsl or body {If •nyl: Fellow of Asso¢lgtlon of Ac(x)untlng TeChn￿an8- registered nUMt￿ 63057 - Li¢enc4 number 1001W7 Addr••s: 45 Quail Mèadow8. TetLwry. Gloucestershire. GL8 8PQ IER Oct 2018 Section B Disclosure Only complete If the examiner needs to highlight maierfal matters of concern {see CC32. Independent examinatson ol charity accounts.. dlrectKx￿ and gU￿anCe for examiners). Glv• h•rn br￿ d•tall8 of any hem• th•1 th• •xarnlner wl•h•8 to